lethal interim

posted on October 24, 2007 at 9:40 am

by the shores of the pacificin the leafy eastern suburbslived the singer nevets yeblikwith his thousand dollar falconwalking on the rainy boardwalkhiding in the misty eveningsdrinking buzz and blowing gangadamiana and yohimbewith his wispy hair and frecklesfingers gliding o’er his fenderbearded and five times a fatherpulling music from the etherdoing all his naive paintingsdoing yoga in the twilightbreathing out in pranayamaand aligning all his chakrasdiving for a deeper meaninglistening to his own minds chatterignorance and empty grandeurvoices whisper in his memorysongs he sang that come to haunt himwords he wrote that then meant nothingnights he spent with white insomniawrithing on the hooks of poppiesmusic deafened in its hearts headmarbled veins of hidden meaningsthings he never meant to be thereothers all may take their meaningonly some will be enamoredin the world so dull and wearyno one cares for subtle magiconly blasting screaming yellingonly dancing death and metalall the noise and all the turmoilfading in the daybreaks silencethen he rises from his slumberleaves his fine wife to her dreamingleaves his daughters softly breathingas the lay entwined togethersitting down at his computertyping through the misty morningas the bondi rain comes softlyfalling on the sand and bindisfalling on the tramps and touristson the roofs of the pavilionrunning off the swaying palm treeslightly touching on the windshieldblurring all the scarlet brakelightsreflected off the mornings phantoms

…the problem i think is that yes, i love silence and subtle magic but life doesn’t always give me the time or opportunity to slow down, be reflective and move with the ebb and flow…unfortunately, quite often it can be a frantic, tumbling tapdance…phew…your blog is one of the few opportunities during the day to have a quite moment to myself…love always-The Hellbound Heart

steve,is it possible for you to explain in words what happened to the band after ‘heyday’?i do still get a buzz from the early stuff…i’ve followed your exploits from the beginning so i musta loved it back then.but it’s almost like another band!who flicked the switch?i wonder……much love,chairman andy.

You paint a wonderful morning scene with your keyboard, TTB. More gentle rain here, refreshing and like nectar to starving forests and streams. Thoughts of my father this morning, as it has been for some days now. There’s no figuring it out – only the knowledge that your time is next.

Right On Andy. No offense to SK or The Church but I don’t listen to much of their pre Starfish music. Then starting with Starfish and Priest=Aura a paramount transformation transpired and The Church ascended to the most celestial heights of progressive, psychedelic, otherworldly and brilliant music imaginable. And they improve each and every year. They belie age like my favorite guitarist JB.

Great blog by Sk today. Pensive, melancholic and realistic ruminations by a nonpareil and criminally overlooked musical talent. The thought of being the leader of the most creative, cohesive and consistently dynamic band in the world (with limited positive reinforcement from the commercial music industry) is hard to accept. There are still several critics and innumerable fans that know The Church are the finest band going. At Amazon.Com for example, there are so many great reviews of “Forget Yourself” by fans from all other America and other regions. The glass is still half-filled.

Sometimes your words give me pleasure, other times they just highlight my own inadequacies. Most people lack your gifts, others lack the love needed to create. Very few people are as surrounded by love as you are – enjoy it. And enjoy Saturday – sadly I can’t be there. Everything too difficult right now.

Interesting comments. I also believe something happened after Heyday. The music did become transcendent. Nothing with the exception of Dark Side or the Fianl Cut by floyd evokes so much mood. The depth of The Music in the past few years has been stunning. TP has done some incredible recording and drumming. It’s a shame the world is so shallow and there aren’t more people who can comprehend the depth of this incredible music. For those of us who do though, it’s an incredible thing. Can’t wait for the new one.

To be able to write ” sometimes the morning elongates and waits around for you to show” amongst a thousand other gems is a gift beyond my description. That’s why you write and I enjoy.Brilliant.Thank-you. I love the early stuff but only listen to stuff pre Starfish once or twice a month. xx

Back to this Heyday/Starfish thing.This is only my humble opinion so don’t everyone shoot me down in flames!.

I just feel there was a huge jump between Heyday and what had gone before. To my ears at least I think the rest of the band were already outgrowing Richard (sorry Ploogy fans! – he WAS the right drummer for the band earlier).

But what intrigues me more is what happened between G.A.F. and Priest=Aura. Where did that come from?. There’s a huge, huge jump/progression between Priest=Aura and what had gone before.

No flames….fair point.But Destination, Hotel Womb, Grind are, to my ears at least, part of the journey to P=A, not that I’m a huge fan of GAF. They may have been outgrowing Ploogy (I don’t know – SK on here has talked about him being a boy genius of the sticks) but he was way better than sampled drums….but JDD was fab and Tim brings so much to the band.

I agree sampled drums – OK for a demo – but for a recording (or for live work) you just loose the feel.

Don’t get me wrong though, I loved Richards’ playing on the earlier stuff – he was the perfect drummer for the band then – I just don’t think he could have done Priest=Aura – it wouldn’t have been the same album (please correct me if I’m wrong Steve – or Richard if you’re reading this).

I don’t know the details of why or how he left the band.

There’s some great stuff on Heyday – Myrrh, Tantalized, Night of Light – to my ears at least they’re a long way from what had gone before.

Speaking of drummers, I’ve seen all 3 drummers play live with the Church, and I don’t care how famous JD was/is, he was the most boring drummer to listen to…the same old boom, baboom, boom, boom, boom, crashhhh!!!…Richard on the other hand was so lively and kept things interesting back in the day (especially the first few drumbeats when the Church used to open with “Constant in Opal” with dryice and flashing lights on stage..God I used to LOVE that!!) and of course no-one beats TP as the best drummer…just my humble opinion. Long live pre-Starfish Church!!!Love Amanda

By the shores of Gitche Gumee, By the shining Big-Sea-Water, Stood the wigwam of Nokomis, Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis. Dark behind it rose the forest, Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees, Rose the firs with cones upon them; Bright before’ it beat the water, Beat the clear and sunny water, Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.

…OK, OK, so I can use wikipedia, but just by way of illumination…an example of trochaeic..learn something new every heyday.

I never saw the Church live in the 80s unfortunately – I wish I had!!.

I remember buying a Duran-Duran concert ticket once in 84/5 just because The Church were supporting them here in the UK – by the time the concert came about “The Church” had pulled out, needless to say I didn’t go and see Duran-Duran – I don’t think my ears would have ever forgiven me :).

Don’t know how famous JD is or isn’t – the only other band I know he has played with is Patti Smiths’ – saw them in 80/81.

you have an amazing way of making the mundane seem miraculous and for that i thank you mr. kilbey.

Brien, that box of birds is the disc i point to when i turn someone on to this unparalleled group of artists. Only because i am at a loss to pick a best of their originals.

Unfortunately UTMWT and Metropolis are all i ever hear on radio. And that’s rare…came on the other day over my BLT on rye (without the B..but still the damn carnivors put mayo on it…should have sent it back) i thought hearing it on the radio was neat, but sad at the same time knowing that there’s sooooo much more to discover.

The worlds biggest underground band!

Its hard to say too much about the band though, how do you describe a thing of such sonic beauty and immense emotional and spiritual scope?

Gaf is timeless and truely unappreciated kinda like Godfather Prt 3. They both could have been masterpieces, yet they are timeless and compelling in their own unique way. The new church sound? I am not sure what u are getting at there but you know Ploogy was great there can be no equal to his playing within a historical timeframe. P=A Could have still worked with a ‘reinvigorated’ Ploog so to speak. Yet I feel the real progression was Sometime Anywhere-the eastern influence, the searching feel to the album-Day of the dead-my little problem-absolute gems. If you happen to get the double Cd it is even more sublime. The song ‘drought’ from 87 is a masterful piece and it fully realises Ploogs ability on the sticks.

Thanks for being a Canadian veg. At one time I did not care for Box of Birds. Now it’s the best covers CD I have ever heard. The guitars, bass and drums jam with optimum and eclectic proficiency. SK sounds like 8 vocalists in one. Magician Among The Spirits is the worse CD to introduce a conservative person to The Church but it’s the best CD to intoduce a tripped out, morphed outhallucinating music fan to. It alternates between being a Stairway To Heaven and A Highway To Hell with interludes of purgatory.

no offence to the guy who didnt fancy JD as a fine drummer , however as ploog may have had ” heart ” , there is no comparison to the two. forgive me for saying this but JD was really a huge part of the sound and mood for priest= aura. ploog coulda never pulled that off . JD had a certain style it seemed that fit that record perfectly.

JD’s percussion on P=A was nearly perfect, I thought. Yes, a major and inextricable element of the total work. I can’t say if Ploogy could have done it; I loved his drumming on previous albums and I suppose I won’t know why he didn’t get the opportunity.

The sounds on the drums/percussion were so meticulously recorded for P=A, which, for me, again parallels Dark Side of the Moon for sonic brilliance. Sonically, thematically, vocally, lyrically – I think it’s up there as one of the best albums ever recorded.